Roaming is a client driver decision. Vendors use a complex algoritme which have many attributes that are used to make the decision.
We call this "the green diamond", yup this says nothing, but you can find the story here link.
Some drivers choose for example the best single strength, where others looks at a frame retries counter, and Apple oh. that have is one roaming decisions based on heuristics. Others prefer 5GHz over 2.4GHz and others do not. This are some small examples of how unpredictable roaming could be.
A good well design wireless design can help the client to make roaming decisions more easy. Looking at above information and see 4 AP's are very strong it seems like your transmit power is to high or access points hang very close together. That doesn't help the client very well to roam.
What is the distance between your APs and what is your TX power set on? What basic bitrates are set per ssid/radio?
Edit: Your AP 5GHz power is at 18dBm /63mW maybe you can try a bit lower 5Ghz@9-15dBm and 2.4Ghz@6-9dBm. And try a minimum basic rate of 24mbps on both radios to optimize roaming.
Original Message:
Sent: Jun 02, 2023 02:58 AM
From: cordless
Subject: Best AP choice
from you thread above I investigated on the MACs you send me with the issue of low signal - as you said:
Client MAC :60:e9:aa:18:4f:bb
Current association :MK0108 (48:2f:6b:61:01:b0)
Signal Strength: MK0108 172.16.101.53 48:2f:6b:61:01:b0 FR47_AV -61
This Signal Strength is voice quality!
Yes there is are APs with a better Signal:
MK0431 172.16.101.24 48:2f:6b:5f:c7:a0 FR47_AV -53
MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:30 FR47_AV -54
MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:20 FR47_AV -41
But as already mentioned - the decission is up to the end Users device. The Driver of the Device says when the Client should look for another AP and how much this the Signal of that AP has to be better before the roaming starts. With a Signal strength of -61 no Client will roam to a "better" AP because the connection is very good. So why should this Client roam to another AP?
Same for the next Client
Client MAC :0a:e7:b6:a4:3b:40
Current association :MK0108 (48:2f:6b:61:01:b4)
Signal Strength: MK0108 172.16.101.53 48:2f:6b:61:01:b0 FR47_Management -60
All other APs provide a lower Signal for the Client
Same applies to the third Client
Client MAC :46:00:e5:a0:85:a8
Current association :MK0116 (48:2f:6b:62:8a:31)
Signal Strength: MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:30 FR47_AV -56
All other APs provide a lower Signal for the Client
This is with all Wi-Fi vendors, this is nothing specific to Aruba.
Original Message:
Sent: Jun 01, 2023 03:03 PM
From: IlPoll
Subject: Best AP choice
I did a scan of the wi-fi coverage before opening this discussion and I saw that although there are better connections near my device, it maintains an AP that is not optimal.
I already thought it could be a problem with my device but in consultation with people who install, for example, Cisco equipment, this does not happen.
As far as how did I notice this thing, I noticed that my device discharges slowly after a while of walking from room to room and also on the controller I see that the signal is not good
Original Message:
Sent: Jun 01, 2023 07:44 AM
From: cordless
Subject: Best AP choice
As @bosborne already mentioned - in Wi-Fi the Clients choose the AP to connect to and when the signal Quality is enough he won´t roam to anothe AP.
Every OS has different values, when the client is seeking for anothe AP and how much stronger that AP have to be to start roaming.
As a vendor we can try to steer the Client from the infrastructure by different approaches, like 802.11v - if client is supporting this. This is more like a "please" to move to another AP. The client must not follow that recommendation.
So question is how do you determine that the client has to raom. Only because the other AP is nearer than the one which the client is connected to?
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 11:18 AM
From: IlPoll
Subject: Best AP choice
I don't know exactly who is giving me the problem, I just know that if I move from one room to another, the iPad, for example, remains connected to the starting AP and does not change to the AP of the room it is in even if the signal from the starting AP is no longer acceptable.
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 10:47 AM
From: cordless
Subject: Best AP choice
Checked it and from that view the Clients are connected to the optimal AP.
What this view brings you is the connected AP and other APs which are "seeing" this client and the Signal Strength.
Could you please do a
show log user 50 | include <client-mac>
show auth-tracebuf mac <client-mac>
of one of the Clients with issues
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 07:57 AM
From: IlPoll
Subject: Best AP choice
These are the 3 MACs I ran with the command you told me above:
Client MAC :60:e9:aa:18:4f:bb
11v Capable :Yes
HE Capable :Yes
6GHz Capable :No
Current association :MK0108 (48:2f:6b:61:01:b0)
Steer attempts/Success :0/0
Consecutive (Fails/BTM Rej/BTM Timeouts) :0/0/0
Bandsteer window (Steers/Start time/Expiry time) :0/0/0
Client Device Type :Win 10
Client OS version:Windows 10
Current state :Steerable
Active media sessions :No
Client Supported Channels :Unknown
Client Non-preferred Channels :None specified
Current Time :May 31 11:53:14 2023
STA Beacon Report
-----------------
AP IP address Radio ESSID Signal (dBm) Last update Add time Phy/Channel/EIRP/Clients Flag
-- ---------- ----- ----- ------------ ----------- -------- ------------------------ ----
MK0431 172.16.101.24 48:2f:6b:5f:c7:b0 FR47_AV -75 May 31 11:52:59 May 31 10:49:37 5GHz/120/18.0/0 H
MK0431 172.16.101.24 48:2f:6b:5f:c7:a0 FR47_AV -53 May 31 11:52:59 May 31 10:49:37 2.4GHz/11/9.0/0 H
MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:30 FR47_AV -54 May 31 11:52:28 May 31 10:49:38 5GHz/149/13.5/1 H
MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:20 FR47_AV -41 May 31 11:52:59 May 31 10:49:38 2.4GHz/6/9.0/0 H
MK0245 172.16.101.38 48:2f:6b:5f:0a:e0 FR47_AV -94 May 31 11:52:59 May 31 10:49:38 2.4GHz/1/9.0/0 H
MK0130 172.16.101.27 48:2f:6b:62:f9:30 FR47_AV -81 May 31 11:53:00 May 31 10:49:38 5GHz/48/18.0/0 H
MK0130 172.16.101.27 48:2f:6b:62:f9:20 FR47_AV -64 May 31 11:53:00 May 31 10:49:38 2.4GHz/1/9.0/0 H
MK0136 172.16.101.28 48:2f:6b:5f:2e:70 FR47_AV -86 May 31 11:53:01 May 31 10:49:38 5GHz/104/18.0/0 H
MK0136 172.16.101.28 48:2f:6b:5f:2e:60 FR47_AV -70 May 31 11:53:01 May 31 10:49:38 2.4GHz/11/9.0/0 H
MK0108 172.16.101.53 48:2f:6b:61:01:b0 FR47_AV -61 May 31 11:53:01 May 31 10:49:38 5GHz/36/18.0/2 *H
MK0108 172.16.101.53 48:2f:6b:61:01:a0 FR47_AV -48 May 31 11:53:01 May 31 10:49:38 2.4GHz/1/9.0/0 H
MK0124 172.16.101.26 48:2f:6b:5d:a2:30 FR47_AV -69 May 31 11:53:01 May 31 10:49:39 5GHz/56/18.0/0 H
MK0124 172.16.101.26 48:2f:6b:5d:a2:20 FR47_AV -53 May 31 11:53:01 May 31 10:49:39 2.4GHz/11/9.0/0 H
MK0095 172.16.101.22 48:2f:6b:5f:bf:00 FR47_AV -88 May 31 11:50:56 May 31 10:49:39 2.4GHz/1/9.0/0 SH
MK0239 172.16.101.37 48:2f:6b:60:7f:e0 FR47_AV -85 May 31 11:53:05 May 31 11:50:27 2.4GHz/11/9.0/0 H
MK0077 172.16.101.21 48:2f:6b:70:9d:20 FR47_AV -86 May 31 11:53:02 May 31 11:51:59 2.4GHz/6/9.0/0 H
VBR Flags *-Associated S-Stale U-Unsupported Channel H-HE radio N-Non-HE preferred radio D-HE preferred radio
(Aruba7030_70_0E_7E) [mynode] #show ap virtual-beacon-report client-mac 0a:e7:b6:a4:3b:40
Client MAC :0a:e7:b6:a4:3b:40
11v Capable :Yes
HE Capable :Yes
6GHz Capable :No
Current association :MK0108 (48:2f:6b:61:01:b4)
Steer attempts/Success :0/0
Consecutive (Fails/BTM Rej/BTM Timeouts) :0/0/0
Bandsteer window (Steers/Start time/Expiry time) :0/0/0
Client Device Type :Unknown
Client OS version:0.0
Current state :Steerable
Active media sessions :No
Client Supported Channels :{5GHz,36,4}{5GHz,52,4}{5GHz,100,11}{5GHz,149,4}{5GHz,165,1}
Client Non-preferred Channels :None specified
Current Time :May 31 11:53:36 2023
STA Beacon Report
-----------------
AP IP address Radio ESSID Signal (dBm) Last update Add time Phy/Channel/EIRP/Clients Flag
-- ---------- ----- ----- ------------ ----------- -------- ------------------------ ----
MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:30 FR47_Management -66 May 31 11:28:54 May 31 10:19:47 5GHz/149/13.5/1 SH
MK0108 172.16.101.53 48:2f:6b:61:01:b0 FR47_Management -60 May 31 11:53:32 May 31 10:19:47 5GHz/36/18.0/2 *H
MK0130 172.16.101.27 48:2f:6b:62:f9:30 FR47_Management -87 May 31 11:38:20 May 31 10:20:18 5GHz/48/18.0/0 SH
MK0124 172.16.101.26 48:2f:6b:5d:a2:30 FR47_Management -71 May 31 11:18:58 May 31 10:20:51 5GHz/56/18.0/0 SH
MK0136 172.16.101.28 48:2f:6b:5f:2e:70 FR47_Management -88 May 31 10:43:21 May 31 10:41:15 5GHz/104/18.0/0 SH
VBR Flags *-Associated S-Stale U-Unsupported Channel H-HE radio N-Non-HE preferred radio D-HE preferred radio
(Aruba7030_70_0E_7E) [mynode] #show ap virtual-beacon-report client-mac 46:00:e5:a0:85:a8
Client MAC :46:00:e5:a0:85:a8
11v Capable :Yes
HE Capable :Yes
6GHz Capable :No
Current association :MK0116 (48:2f:6b:62:8a:31)
Steer attempts/Success :2/1
Consecutive (Fails/BTM Rej/BTM Timeouts) :0/0/0
Bandsteer window (Steers/Start time/Expiry time) :1/May 31 10:49:07/May 31 11:19:07
Client Device Type :Linux
Client OS version:
Current state :Steerable
Active media sessions :No
Client Supported Channels :{5GHz,36,4}{5GHz,52,4}{5GHz,100,11}{5GHz,149,4}{5GHz,165,1}
Client Non-preferred Channels :None specified
Current Time :May 31 11:53:53 2023
STA Beacon Report
-----------------
AP IP address Radio ESSID Signal (dBm) Last update Add time Phy/Channel/EIRP/Clients Flag
-- ---------- ----- ----- ------------ ----------- -------- ------------------------ ----
MK0116 172.16.101.25 48:2f:6b:62:8a:30 FR47_AV -56 May 31 11:53:30 May 31 11:29:57 5GHz/149/13.5/1 *H
MK0068 172.16.101.20 48:2f:6b:6d:bf:50 FR47_AV -88 May 31 11:50:56 May 31 11:42:02 5GHz/36/18.0/0 SH
MK0026 172.16.101.17 48:2f:6b:60:9f:a0 FR47_AV -84 May 31 11:50:03 May 31 11:49:32 2.4GHz/6/9.0/0 SH
MK0059 172.16.101.19 48:2f:6b:5f:4b:70 FR47_AV -90 May 31 11:50:56 May 31 11:41:31 5GHz/100/18.0/0 SH
MK0340 172.16.101.43 48:2f:6b:61:a0:90 FR47_AV -90 May 31 11:51:14 May 31 11:43:47 5GHz/100/18.0/0 SH
MK0302 172.16.101.42 48:2f:6b:63:08:10 FR47_AV -88 May 31 11:50:59 May 31 11:41:33 5GHz/100/18.0/0 SH
MK0196 172.16.101.33 48:2f:6b:60:1d:d0 FR47_AV -87 May 31 11:51:13 May 31 11:41:39 5GHz/48/18.0/0 SH
MK0215 172.16.101.36 48:2f:6b:5f:d1:70 FR47_AV -78 May 31 11:51:48 May 31 11:46:34 5GHz/104/18.0/0 SH
MK0382 172.16.101.46 48:2f:6b:5f:e3:30 FR47_AV -89 May 31 11:51:16 May 31 11:41:54 5GHz/100/12.0/0 SH
MK0258 172.16.101.39 48:2f:6b:60:6b:f0 FR47_AV -82 May 31 11:50:19 May 31 11:42:20 5GHz/100/12.0/0 SH
MK0380 172.16.101.45 48:2f:6b:5f:ff:50 FR47_AV -82 May 31 11:48:57 May 31 11:42:27 5GHz/100/12.0/0 SH
MK0019 172.16.101.15 48:2f:6b:62:ee:70 FR47_AV -89 May 31 11:50:25 May 31 11:42:34 5GHz/100/18.0/0 SH
MK0155 172.16.101.30 48:2f:6b:60:cf:30 FR47_AV -89 May 31 11:50:48 May 31 11:04:25 5GHz/100/18.0/0 SH
MK0037 172.16.101.18 48:2f:6b:6f:c9:30 FR47_AV -90 May 31 11:49:55 May 31 11:44:09 5GHz/116/18.0/0 SH
MK0266 172.16.101.40 48:2f:6b:5f:4e:d0 FR47_AV -90 May 31 11:51:32 May 31 11:04:05 5GHz/36/18.0/0 SH
MK0204 172.16.101.29 48:2f:6b:62:85:50 FR47_AV -91 May 31 11:50:59 May 31 11:23:44 5GHz/100/12.0/0 SH
MK0239 172.16.101.37 48:2f:6b:60:7f:f0 FR47_AV -86 May 31 11:52:02 May 31 11:47:19 5GHz/100/18.0/0 H
MK0130 172.16.101.27 48:2f:6b:62:f9:30 FR47_AV -80 May 31 11:53:31 May 31 11:49:52 5GHz/48/18.0/0 H
MK0461 172.16.101.31 48:2f:6b:5d:ce:10 FR47_AV -86 May 31 11:53:39 May 31 11:47:47 5GHz/120/18.0/0 H
MK0108 172.16.101.53 48:2f:6b:61:01:b0 FR47_AV -63 May 31 11:53:32 May 31 11:03:16 5GHz/36/18.0/2 H
MK0294 172.16.101.41 48:2f:6b:60:f8:e0 FR47_AV -81 May 31 11:50:57 May 31 11:43:37 2.4GHz/6/9.0/0 SH
MK0200 172.16.101.35 48:2f:6b:5e:de:f0 FR47_AV -91 May 31 11:51:30 May 31 11:23:44 5GHz/100/12.0/0 SH
MK0198 172.16.101.34 48:2f:6b:63:33:f0 FR47_AV -91 May 31 11:53:39 May 31 11:23:46 5GHz/100/15.0/0 H
MK0431 172.16.101.24 48:2f:6b:5f:c7:b0 FR47_AV -72 May 31 11:53:30 May 31 11:46:43 5GHz/120/18.0/0 H
VBR Flags *-Associated S-Stale U-Unsupported Channel H-HE radio N-Non-HE preferred radio D-HE preferred radio
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 07:49 AM
From: cordless
Subject: Best AP choice
show user
here take a MAC of an effected Client.
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 06:29 AM
From: IlPoll
Subject: Best AP choice
Updated the controller to 8.10.0.6
As for the ClientMatch I don't know where to find the MAC to insert in the CLI.
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 04:53 AM
From: cordless
Subject: Best AP choice
got it.
First of all be aware the 8.7.x is End of Support by 31st of July 2023 - Source: https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/end-of-life/#product=arubaos-8&version=0
And additionally that 8.7.1.3 Release is a really old one. Either you Upgrade to the latest version of 8.7.1.x Code, which is 8.7.1.11 or you upgrade to the recommended version by Aruba 8.10.0.6.
Between 8.7.1.3 and 8.7.1.11 or 8.10.0.6 there have been a lot of bug fixex and enhancements, which can solve your issues.
Herer you can have a look into the Release Notes of those Releases - https://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS/Consolidated_8.x_RN/Content/Home.htm
As an example here a fix which is implented with 8.7.1.4 - which could be part of your issue.
As said I would recommend to upgrade to 8.10.0.6 and see if the issue still exist.
If so I would look deeper into ClientMatch to see if clients are steered correctly.
Command for that will be
show ap virtual-beacon-report client-mac <client-mac>
show ap arm client-match history client-mac <client-mac>
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 04:28 AM
From: IlPoll
Subject: Best AP choice
Hi, I mean the APs when moving from room to room don't give me access to the best AP automatically.
I don't know where I see it from?
This is the Controller version: Aruba7030, 8.7.1.3
The APs are all placed in optimal locations.
Original Message:
Sent: May 31, 2023 04:10 AM
From: cordless
Subject: Best AP choice
Hi, what do you mean by "I've noticed that the controller doesn't always give me the access point with the best signal." Do you mean for the Client?
Have you enabled ClientMatch on the system?
Which version of Code are you using?
Was there done a Site Survey for evaluating best location for APs?
Original Message:
Sent: May 30, 2023 11:56 AM
From: IlPoll
Subject: Best AP choice
Hi everyone,
I have a WLAN controller 7030 and 30 AP 515.
Each AP deploys multiple VLANs.
I've noticed that the controller doesn't always give me the access point with the best signal.
Do you have any idea how I can fix it?
Thank you